


Back in the Saddle

by Aloisi



Series: Saya lives au [1]
Category: Black Cat
Genre: Gen, dont worry everyone is safe, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-16 06:26:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4614657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aloisi/pseuds/Aloisi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Determined to make up for her perceived failure in Gyanza Rujikke's capture, Eve insists she comes along for their newest job.  Saya and Train tell her no.  Unsurprisingly, she tries to help anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> gee willikers it's my first black cat fic i hope i don't bring dishonor upon my family.

It had been a while since they’d put Sapidoa behind them.

Train and Saya had barely been managing to stay one step ahead of their expenses before Rinslet had come to them with the Torneo job.  The sweepers ended up selling Train's motorcycle in order to make a down payment on a car, much to Train's dismay.  Although a necessary evil, it only made it harder to avoid financial ruin.  Now that they had a third person traveling with them--and a child at that--they couldn't afford much downtime.  As soon as one criminal was caught, it was back to searching for a new target.  All this moving around wasn't good for getting to know new people, so trying to find a family for Eve was turning out to be easier said than done.

Fortunately, Eve turned out to be a big help.  The sweepers had already been masquerading as a couple when necessary, and having a child along really helped keep up appearances.  It was dangerous, of course, but they made sure Eve was never in too much trouble.  Although Train was often against letting her help out with the riskier jobs, Saya was more than happy to recruit Eve to charm her way to a target's side or act as bait when Saya wasn't the target's type and criminal in question wasn't a violent offender.  Still, Saya never let Eve do something unless the sweeper was sure the girl could handle it.

However, since the job for Karl in Rubek city a week ago, even Saya was wary of letting Eve help out with jobs, which was why the trio was currently holed up in the cheapest motel they could find while the adults tried to talk Eve out of assisting with their current job.  Saya sat across the small, rickety table from Eve while Train had claimed the end of the bed nearest to the girls, cleaning his pistol while they argued.  He didn't seem very interested in the conversation as he organized the pieces of the now disassembled firearm.

"I already told you, this isn't happening." Saya's arms were crossed and her gaze resolute.  Eve was stubborn, but Saya wasn't willing to cave.  This argument had started a few towns over when they picked up their current job, and had continued off-and-on since.

"Terrance Felor looks for short blonde women.  He would not realize I am younger than his usual victims until it was too late for him to escape.  I would be in no danger," Eve insisted, leaning forward slightly, brow furrowed.

"But once he realized you weren't, he'd know it was a trap," Saya retorted, "and might try to use you as a hostage, or kill you if Train or me didn't get there in time."

"I would hit him," Eve shot back hotly, standing and slapping her hands onto the table as she leaned forward.  The wood creaked in protest.

"Gyanza," Train suddenly tossed in, not looking up from his work on Hades.

Saya glanced at him for a moment, slightly surprised.  So he was paying attention after all.  Saya's eyes flicked back to Eve just in time to see the girl blush and plop back into the chair before shooting him a glare. Clearly that incident was still a sore spot with her.

"Excellent point!" Saya declared, pointing in Train's direction.  "Talking it through is easy enough, but you never know what you'll actually do until it happens.  We still don't know what all this guy's capable of, you know."

"Felor has no connections with the Apostles of the Star and is therefore unlikely to be a Taoist.  There is no reason you two would fail to reach me in time," Eve responded impatiently.

Saya opened her mouth as if to reply, but paused mid-thought.  Eve did have a good point.  Felor was just a normal person.  Eve was young and inexperienced, but she was quick and skilled enough of a fighter to hold her own against some average Joe.

"Which means I could easily handle him with my abilities before either one of you reached us," the girl continued while Saya was still thinking, "so really, I  could do this job on my own."

It was Saya's turn to batter the poor table, smacking the wood with one hand.

"Absolutely not!" She nearly shouted, somehow managing to keep her voice down.  Saya had kept her cool relatively well up until now, casually turning the girl down and letting Train redirect the conversation to avoid a fight in the enclosed space.

Eve could have been capable of defeating an army ten times over and there was no way Saya was going to let Eve go after a rapist by herself, even if Felor never attacked a woman who looked younger than twenty.  Still though, the girl's logic was pretty solid.  It was time for Saya to put her foot down and flat out tell Eve she was sitting this one out if it meant Train had to babysit her while Saya went out and caught this guy, since Train seemed so adamant about not playing the role of the responsible adult.

"Yeah, no, that's not happening in a million years," Train interjected,accompanied by the click of metal.  Saya hadn't expected any more input from him since he was preoccupied, but when she turned to look he was setting a fully-assembled Hades aside.  She and Eve had been going at this for longer that Saya had thought.

The ladies watched, curious, as Train hopped off of the bed and made his way to the spot they had stashed their bags.  After maybe a minute of rummaging and quiet swearing, he tossed a flat, pale yellow rectangle over his shoulder toward them with a victorious "aha!".  When the object landed squarely in the middle of the table between them, Eve realized it was a blonde wig, still tucked away in the plastic sleeve it came in.

"Saya can wear this and be the bait," he said, returning to his original position.  “There’s no reason for you to step up for this, Princess."

“That’s right, Eve,” Saya added, making sure she didn't sound as smug as she felt.  She stood with a smile and carefully pushed the chair back under the table to make sure she didn’t hit Eve’s knees.  “So you just hang out here while Train and I go catch our meal ticket.”

The girl was clearly still angry. She was pouting, arms crossed over her chest and looking away from them.  Any other time, Saya probably would have teased her a bit in an attempt to lighten the mood, but that would probably only make things worse at this point.

"Fine," Even huffed, slumping in her chair. "I will stay behind."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise here's a chapter.

Like hell she would.

Eve pretended to busy herself with reading one of the books she had bought not long after they rolled into town while the two adults got ready to work.  Saya was rummaging through her bag while Train sat cross-legged on the other bed, looking over the map in the travel brochure that had been left in their motel room.  Eve snuck glances at the sweepers whenever she thought she could get away with it, taking care to turn the pages of her novel at a steady pace.  It was tempting to just go ahead and read it so there was no risk of being caught, but the girl knew if she did she would likely miss her chance and the job would already be complete by the time she left to follow them.

She was almost caught when Saya passed her on the way to the bathroom to change.  If the woman hadn't been complaining about how a true gentlemen would have offered to crossdress to protect a lady's virtue and Train hadn't responded with a outraged refusal she would have surely noticed that Eve had been stealing glances at the map spread out on the neighboring bed.  The dark red jacket Saya had tossed over Train's head as she passed him kept the man from seeing her jerk back to her book.

Realizing she had been on the current page for roughly two and a half minutes, Eve casually turned to the next one.  She turned the page three more times before Saya emerged from the bathroom in a loose black skirt and what appeared to be a matching corset.

"I forgot the top zips up in the back.  Can either of you get it the rest of the way?"

Train moved to get up, but Eve was closest, so she morphed a lock of hair into a bookmark to save her place before hopping down from the bed.  No sooner had she finished the task Saya was already on the move again, this time to retrieve the wig from its place on the table and slip on the jacket Train had thrown onto the foot of Eve's bed.  The girl shrugged and returned to her book, looking nonchalant.

The next time she looked up, Saya was ready to go and Train was handing her her pistol, which she promptly slipped into the inner pocket of her jacket.  Figuring now would be the time an innocent person would visibly pay attention, Eve looked up from her book to watch them.

"Are you heading out now?" She asked, making sure to sound put-out that she was being made to stay behind.  It wasn't difficult.

"Yup!  Hopefully it won't take long.  If you get hungry, go ahead and order room service," Saya instructed.  Train had said something about dinner as they were walking out, which Eve ignored in favor of letting them see her pick up her novel again.  She doubted it was important; the man was likely just complaining like he usually did.

She waited until their voices had faded before almost slamming her book shut and hurriedly placing it on the bedside table on her way to grab her shoes and purse.  The sleeveless black dress she wore would do fine, so there was no need to change.  She considered tying her hair up, but the target preferred women with loose hair.

Before she headed out, Eve inspected herself in the mirror.  She wasn't a very good judge of beauty, so she just had to assume she looked the part.  It was too bad she was so short, though.  Transforming her legs to make herself taller would be too difficult to maintain with her current level of skill, however, so she would have to make do.

Satisfied, Eve stepped outside and locked the door behind her.  She couldn't be sure which way the two sweepers had gone, but based on their voices as the departed she assumed they had gone right.  Considering Main Street was in the direction, it was a safe assumption.  At first, she stuck to the shadows and darted by windows when she was sure no one was watching. Even after sneaking along for several yards, the place was still deserted.  It then dawned on her that it was past six.  Anyone who had plans to go out for the night would have already left, and anyone else was likely relaxing in their rooms before bed.  Feeling embarrassed, Eve quietly made her way out of the small alcove between buildings she had taken shelter in and made her way off of the motel grounds and merged into the bustle of the city unchallenged.

Now to track down her bounty, preferable before Train and Saya did.

She had overheard from Train that Felor selected his targets out of the crowd and watched them until he found an opening, so she stuck to the high-traffic streets at first, inspecting store windows even stopping briefly in a small bakery for a snack.  She hadn’t attracted the target’s attention yet, but the night was still relatively young.  There was plenty of time to track Felor down, and honestly, the longer she played at innocent civilian the more likely she was to catch his eye.

Eve claimed a spot by the window, in clear view of the street, to eat her slice of strawberry cheesecake.  It was easy to watch the crowds both outside and inside the shop once she remembered there was no reason to try not to be noticed anymore.  It was perfectly natural for someone to people-watch while they ate, if her books were anything to go by.  Eve tried to take her time, but by the time she was on her last bite she still couldn't feel anyone's eyes on her.

That is, until she spotted Train walking through the door.  Eve was just thankful she didn't choke.

The man casually made his way to her table and plopped down in the chair across from her with the same devil-may-care grin he sported when he found himself in a particularly amusing situation.  The short moment of silence before he finally spoke seemed to last for ages.

“Fancy meeting you here, Princess."

Eve knew she should be nervous, but more than anything she found the way he acted as if he just happened to run into a friend while taking care of some minor errands very annoying.

“Indeed.  Shouldn’t you be working?” She asked, carefully placing her fork aside so it didn’t cause a clatter.  Eve looked up, bravely meeting Train’s eyes.

“Oh, but I am,” came the reply.  “I came to pick you up.”

Inwardly swearing, Eve tried to keep her tone neutral.  Thankfully her hastily-concocted cover story was simple enough she didn't stumble over it.

“Since you both refused my assistance, I decided to go out for a treat instead,” she lied, toying with the hem of her dress under the table.  It was a bit weak, but Train had no way of proving her wrong.  They said she couldn't help with the job, not that she couldn't go out at all.

To her horror, Train only laughed quietly and crossed his arms.

“Princess, come on,” he said after a moment, “We both knew you were going to do this.  We planned for it from the get-go.”

So her little escapade was over, then.

“Which is why I came to get you.  Didn’t expect you in a sweet shop, though,” he continued after giving her a moment to process his own confession.

“Felor would not look for a potential victim in a bookstore, Train.”

Train laughed again.  Eve scowled.  She didn’t find her statement humorous at all.

“At any rate, we’ve dallied enough here,” he remarked.  “Saya will make it to the alley before we do if we don’t get going.”

Still frowning lightly, Eve got to her feet and left a tip on the table before hastily following Train’s lead as he exited the shop.  Having to trail along behind him like this was annoying, but she didn’t really have a choice.  She had no idea where this particular alley Train had mentioned was.  Once we get there, I’m going to take Felor down before he can even draw his gun, she vowed, picking up the pace slightly so they wouldn’t be separated in the crowd.


End file.
